"Fox was always my idol."

By the end of Dreamhack everyone in the Quake community should at least have heard from him. Not only did he defeat his team mate and friend Sebastian 'Spart1e' Siira in a thrilling three-mapper. He also brought down iCE CLiMBERS legend 'Fox' to his knees.


What does strenx stand for?

strenx: It's derived from the english word 'strength'.

What do you do except from railguns and rocket launchers? What other activities do you exert?

strenx: I still go to school. At the moment I don't do much in my leisure time. I don't go out on winter, it's so cold. But normally I hang out with friends, play football, meet girls and the usual stuff.

Now a bit about strenx. Since when do you play Quake competitively? And when did you first start playing Quake?

strenx: I play Quake competitively since the beginning of this year. But I'm already playing it occasionally since I'm 13.

Kévin, during the group stage at Dreamhack you played rather unremarkable. Eventually you placed second behind 'Jibo' and proceeded to the playoffs. How well did you prepare for the tournament?

strenx: I try my best to do well on international tournaments. I’m happy to have proven, that I’m someone to consider a worthy opponent. I trained with Spart1e and also played a few games with noctis. I think it helped me a lot laughs.

In the playoffs we could see a bit of a Napoléon in you and you played the quarter and semi finals like a beast – very good rail versus 'Spart1e' and an awesome shaft against 'Fox'. That was very surprising. How did it feel to get 'Spart1e' to rage-quit and after that even dominating Fox that badly?

strenx: I felt nothing when 'Spart1e' did a rage-quit. I was surprised, because things like that don't affect him normally. After the match when I saw him walking towards my direction I thought he was going to kill me, because he looked really angry laughs. And after I beat Fox I was even more surprised. But it was a really good feeling.

Now you've tasted the blood and you're probably dying to place even higher at bigger tournaments. Does that mean we can see you playing on the international stage more often from now on?

strenx: Yeah, I certainly hope so. I trained a lot for the ESWC National Qualifier in France and eventually I could attend the Grand Final in San José.
I did not train too much for the big Final. Just some quick games with 'Krysa'. When I now watch the demos from San José I must admit I really sucked. I did so many mistakes and controlled the items badly. But I have become much more stable now.

How does your regular training schedule look like? Do you prefer offline boot camping or is the Internet enough for you?

strenx: Hmm, it depends, I never boot camped in my life. I haven't had the opportunity yet, but it would surely help a lot. For the time being it's primarily online practice with Spart1e.

But you do not only play 1on1, do you? We've seen you practicing with your Team France too. Do you play some CTF in between as well?

strenx: Yes, I play a bit of Team Deathmatch with Team France for the upcoming Nations Cup, but I focus mainly on duels, because it's much more fun.

What about Quake Live? Do you like it?

strenx: Nah, for now Quake 3 is much better and way more fun. Only with CPMA of course.

What if Quake Live is going to appeal to a lot of new players?

strenx: Let's see about that. At the moment I prefer the more developed CPMA for Q3.

So you don't care about the disappearance of OSP in the duel scene?

strenx: No and I don't really care, to be honest.

Are you pursuing a certain goal, which you want to achieve? Have you got an idol? (Maybe St. Germain?)

strenx: I’m just playing for fun grinning, but of course I'm trying my best. My idol was Fox when I was younger and I can't say he isn't it anymore. Actually I really played with St. Germain from time to time when I was very very young laughs.

Wait, does that mean you consider yourself not young anymore?

strenx: laughs Well, not really. But back then I was way younger than today.


Spart1e said one reason for him to join Frag Dominant was because of you. For how long do you guys know each other?

strenx: Yeah, I know Spart1e for two years now and we play together really often.

Where do you see your strengths and what is there left to improve?

strenx: One of my strengths is to have a superior shaft and my brain is better laughs. Also I use my headphones the way they're used to be, not inverted laughs.